As we reported they would two weeks ago, Seattle Citizens Against the Tunnel (SCAT)---the group that's pushing the original anti-tunnel initiative (not to be confused with Move Seattle Smarter, the group that's collecting signatures for an anti-tunnel referendum now)---officially failed today to collect the required 20,629 valid signatures to get its measure on the ballot and will have 20 days to come up with the remaining signatures.

(Initiative campaigns must gather enough registered Seattle voters' signatures to equal ten percent of the votes cast in the most recent mayoral election, while referendum campaigns only need eight percent. So while SCAT needs more than 20,000 signatures, the tunnel referendum needs just over 16,000.)

In a letter to SCAT today, city clerk Monica Simmons said the group was 1,179 signatures short of its goal. If the group's rate of invalid (fabricated, out-of-town, or otherwise illegitimate) signatures remains at its current level of about 30 percent, that means they'll need to collect about 1,533 more signatures to make their goal.

SCAT has until April 10 to collect the remaining signatures.

SCAT founder Elizabeth Campbell told PubliCola the group plans to continue gathering signatures despite its support for a separate anti-tunnel referendum that would repeal three agreements between the city and state giving the state access to city-owned right-of-way for tunnel construction.